anemone

my tank has been up and running for 10 or 11 months i have about 65lbs of LR, a 4 bulb t-5 HO light with moon light (2-10,000k day lite and 2-6,400 antic) a 10 gal. sump with a 1000 gph pump (pump runs protein skimmer and return to tank) the return is putting out about 600 to 700 gph to the tank. salinity is 1.026 ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0 nitrates are 5ppm phosphates are 0 kh is 179 cal. is 460 and ph is 8.0 i would like to get an anemone for my pair of clowns (i know they dont need it) but i like seeing it. first question is do i need more flow in the tank? and as of now i have mo power heads. second question is, is my tank old enough to support it

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Yes, more flow in your tank from power heads would be beneficial. Anemones don't like to be directly hammered by flow but need indirect flow to constantly cycle the water around them.

A year old tank is a good general rule. IMO, maturity of a tank is directly related to stability. Do you have big swings in ph, temp., salinity, etc... Anemones don't tolerate constantly changing water parameters very well.

Anemones are one of the most light demanding creatures we put in our tanks. So with your 4 bulb setup I would have some concerns. You could probably maintain an easier but still difficult anemone like a BTA that is settled high in the rock work but maintaining shouldn't be the goal. As aquarists our goal should be making our creatures thrive. So personally I would upgrade the lighting to a 6 bulb or add one or two MH's or look at LED's.

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to start with im not looking to just keep it alive i want to thrive. i guess i could have worded it better. but with that said my salinity i keep right at 1.026 i keep it to the higher side do to the fact that it is going to be a reef tank so when i set it up i didnt see a point in making it lower only to have to raise it later on my PH stays right at 8 to 8.2, my temp stays at 78 degrees the KH and CAL. i just started testing yesterday. but the BTA is what i looking to get. but i already had a catastrophic failure with my tank once and im not going thru that again

to start with im not looking to just keep it alive i want to thrive. i guess i could have worded it better. but with that said my salinity i keep right at 1.026 i keep it to the higher side do to the fact that it is going to be a reef tank so when i set it up i didnt see a point in making it lower only to have to raise it later on my PH stays right at 8 to 8.2, my temp stays at 78 degrees the KH and CAL. i just started testing yesterday. but the BTA is what i looking to get. but i already had a catastrophic failure with my tank once and im not going thru that again

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I probably should of worded it better myself as I wasn't trying to imply you were only wanting to maintain I was just trying to make you aware that your lights may not make an anemone thrive.

Do you have any corals in the tank? How are they doing if you do and what kinds of coral do you have? I would get a few corals and see if you can get them to thrive before adding the nem. I also agree that a little more flow and a lighting upgrade may be necessary.

ok on the lights i have 216 watt light putting out 32,800 k i a standard 55gal tank how much more do i need? the power head is fine i know i need them anyhow. as far as what happened to my tank im not sure. but was having some major family problem went away for the weekend when i come home my sea hair was then less then a week later my hermit crab kick the bucket i hated to loose him cuz he was funny as heck to watch when it was feeding time he went nuts jumping off the rock and then rare up on his shell and start fanning the water to pull the food in and run and yes i mean run back and forth in the tank till all the food was gone so that left me with a domino and a yellow tailed damsile left i was having rally bad diatoms to kept the lights out and i think they killed each other cuz all they did was fight. so i was left with an empty tank i left it set up and running till i got money for my sump pump, ro/di filter, the rest of the live rock i needed and my t-5 HO light so if its not enough then im out that money i guess but right now i 2 clowns and a dwarf zebra hermit i dont anve any corals yet but like to start add

A couple powerheads, maybe a 450 & 750ish. I agree with Angie, start with some zoas, and LPS that you like first. That light isgood for those. I would then fit in a clip on metal halide where you want an anemone. That gives you the light you need, but in a small, affordable package. JBJ makes a couple. And if you noticed heat becomes an issue, just get a really small fan or a computer fan to blow accross that area, also giving you more surface movement.

I do have a 4 bulb on my tank and my nem is doing awesome. I do have it in the upper 50% but i havent gotten to spend the small fortune in leds yet. I have a rbta and it is more than happy right now and putting 6 bulbs on a bow front is impossible. Good luck and keep us posted

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